RUDN Journal of Russian History 2020 Vol. 19 No 1 119–135 Вестник РУДН. Серия: ИСТОРИЯ РОССИИ http://journals.rudn.ru/russian-history https://doi.org/10.22363/2312-8674-2020-19-1-119-135 Научная статья / Research article Soviet-Tajik Writing Intelligentsia in the Late 1930s Nicholas Seay Ohio State University; 203 Annie and John Glenn Ave., Columbus, Ohio, 43210 USA; [email protected] C оветская таджикская писательская элита в конце 1930-х годов Николас Сии Университет штата Огайо; 43210, США, шт. Огайо, г. Колумбус, Энни энд Джон Глен Авеню, 203; [email protected] Abstract: This paper looks at the formation of a Tajik-Soviet writing elit e in the 1930s, exploring how a new generation of Soviet writers in the late 1930s emerged out of new state institutions. Prior to their emergence, the founders of Tajik literature – Sadriddin Aini and Abolqosim Lahuti – used their unique position vis-à-vis Moscow to shape the direction of Tajik literature. Despite the former’s important place in Soviet hagiography, it was the younger generation of Tajik writers – including writers like Mirzo Tursun- zoda, Jalol Ikromi, Sotim Ulughzoda, and others – that emerged on the all-Union writing scene in the late 1930s and became key cultural and political fi gures in the post-war era. While the role of the Tajik writer inevitably became the portrayal of the national subject in the modern context of Soviet development, this article shows how comparing the themes and writings of these two generations in the 1930s demon- strates how Tajik national identity building related to the nationalities policies of the early Soviet Union and, in particular, the relationship between Tajik national identity and territory. This paper relies on a few primary source materials the Central State Archive of the Republic of Tajikistan, but also online archives, newspapers/periodicals, and published Books and collections. This paper fi nds that the mobilization of a younger generation of Tajik-Soviet Writing Intelligentsia led to the creation of a new vision of Tajik national identity unfolding in a Soviet space. Unlike the early writers Sadriddin Aini and Abolqosim La- huti, these younger writers emerged in new Soviet institutions and therefore projected a new Soviet-Tajik identity in the late 1930s and eventually became leaders of Central Asian literature in the post WWII period. Keywords: national identity, national politics, Tajik writers, Tajik-Persian literature For citation: Seay, Nicholas. “Soviet-Tajik Writing Intelligentsia in the Late 1930s,” RUDN Journal of Russian History 19, no. 1 (February 2020): 119–135. https://doi.org/10.22363/2312-8674- 2020-19-1-119-135 Аннотация: Статья посвящена истории формирования новой таджикской советской литературной элиты в 1930-е гг. На примере реализации проекта «Политика советских нацио- нальностей» показан процесс становления новых национальных символов, языка, мифологии Таджикистана, представлены основные его участники в лице основателей таджикской литера- туры – Садриддина Айни и Аболкосима Лахути и молодых авторов – Мирзо Турсунзаде, Ялола © Seay N., 2019 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ЖИЗНЬ НАЦИЙ СССР В 1920−1950-Е ГГ. 119 Nicholas Seay. RUDN Journal of Russian History 19, no. 1 (2020): 119–135 Икроми, Сотима Улугзода и др., которые стали ключевыми фигурами в культурной и политиче- ской жизни республики в послевоенную эпоху. Показано, что роль таджикского писателя в те годы во многом определялась необходимостью создания и изображения национального субъекта в контексте советского развития. Проведенный автором анализ тематики художественных про- изведений двух поколений литераторов 1930-х гг. продемонстрировал то, как построение нацио- нальной идентичности таджиков, определение их территориальной локализации были связаны с национальной политикой Советского Союза той эпохи. Данная статья опирается на разные груп- пы источников, включая документы Центрального государственного архива Республики Таджи- кистан и онлайн-архивов, публицистические материалы и художественные произведения. Автор приходит к выводу, что мобилизация молодого поколения представителей таджикской советской литературной интеллигенции привела к формированию нового типа таджикской национальной идентичности на советском пространстве. В отличие от Садриддина Айни и Аболкосима Лаху- ти, молодые таджикские литераторы сумели вписаться в условия советской действительности. Именно они формировали с конца 1930-х гг. новую таджикскую идентичность, став в итоге лиде- рами художественной литературы Центральной Азии в послевоенный период советской истории. Ключевы е слова: национальная идентичность, национальная политика, таджикские писатели, таджикско-персидская литература Для цитирования: Николас Сии. Советская таджикская писательская элита в конце 1930-х годов // Вестник Российского университета дружбы народов. Серия: История России. 2020. Т. 19. № 1. С. 119–135. https://doi.org/10.22363/2312-8674-2020-19-1-119-135 Introduction In cont emporary Tajikistan, the image of the Soviet-Tajik writer continues to lend itself to the state-building project. Traveling around the country’s capital Dushanbe, you will fi nd streets, buildings, and public monuments celebrating fi gures like Sadriddin Aini, Mirzo Tursunzoda, and Abolqosim Lahuti. Examples include the Sadriddin Aini Theater of Opera and Ballet, a street named after Mirzo Tursunzoda, and the Lahuti Drama Theatre, all found in the city center. Not far from these landmarks, stands a mu- ral alongside the Writers’ Union building, where Aini, Lahuti, and Mirzo Tursunzoda’s life-sized likenesses can be found alongside the Russian-Soviet writer Maksim Gorky and more classical Persian fi gures like Abu Ali Ibn Sino (Avicenna), Firdowsi, Rudaki, and Hofi z Sherozi. The Tajik state evokes these writers’ images in more offi cial settings too. For example, Aini and Tursunzoda are two of the six individuals awarded Tajiki- stan’s “highest honorary title” (Hero of Tajikistan).1 Finally, the citizens of contempo- rary Tajikistan encounter these latter two writers on a daily basis, as the two writers are respectively portrayed on the one-somoni and fi ve-somoni bills, the lowest (and most commonly used) bills of Tajik currency. Why is the Soviet-Tajik writer promoted in the post-Soviet period if these fi gures were so closely linked to the Soviet state? The importance of these fi gures is a direct consequence of the project of Soviet Nationalities’ Policy in the context of the Tajik SSR. As Adeeb Khalid explains, Tajikistan’s elevation as a full Soviet Republic in 1929 pre-dated a Tajik nation-building project and therefore demanded considerable attention 1 K. Abudullaev, Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefi eld, 2018), 187. The others include Soviet-Tajik party members and scholars Bobojon Ghafurov, Nusratullo Maqsum, and Shirinsho Shotemur. The current President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon is the only living recipient of the award. 120 THE LIFE OF THE NATIONS OF THE USSR BETWEEN 1920–1950 Сии Н. Вестник РУДН. Серия: ИСТОРИЯ РОССИИ. 2020. Т. 19. № 1. С. 119–135 and initiative in the creation of national symbols, language, and a founding mythology of Tajikistan.2 The project itself required the participation of politicians, ethnographers, scientists, writers, journalists, politicians, and teachers both from within Soviet borders (especially from the Tajik SSR, the Uzbek SSR, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic), but also those from beyond its borders in Europe and Iran. Writers like the Bukharan writer Sadriddin Aini and the Iranian revolutionary poet Abolqosim Lahuti played an important role in this process, particularly following the national de- limitations of Central Asia. This article fi rst looks at these two fi gures who lent themselves in the service of the Soviet party-state. Because they could be mobilized as trusted Bolsheviks and reli- able speakers of Persian, they were among the fi rst articulators of a Tajik-Soviet literary identity, which simultaneously laid claim to a Persian heritage rooted in the history of Central Asia and the larger Persian-speaking world. The story, of course, did not end with these two writers; as the second part of this article demonstrates, a second genera- tion of writers – the Komsomol Generation – eventually emerged out of budding Soviet institutions and would continue the work, creating their own distinct vision of a Tajik national identity.3 By comparing these two generations, their works, and their place within a broader pan-Soviet stage, this article demonstrates an inherent tension in the 1930s search for a Tajik national identity and its place in a broader Persianate context. The politics of the 1930s demanded “native” voices to promote a new Tajik na- tional identity and bolster the Soviet Union’s anti-colonial rhetoric.4 Absent a local group of Tajikistan-based intellectuals, Aini and Lahuti served this function. Yet, Aini’s status as witness to the oppressive pre-revolutionary Central Asian order and Lahuti’s unique position in Moscow as a devoted Stalinist, an internationalist, revolutionary poet, and a representative of the “East” at large made it impossible for them to fully de- velop a local “insider” perspective on Tajikistan that would be simultaneously national and Soviet. To fi ll this gap, local party members and Writers’ Union offi cials encouraged the younger generation of Tajik writers to create the insider images and